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(ModeL) R. E. GLEASON, Deed.

M. E. GLEASON, Administratrix.

CHAIN.

No. 372,613. Patented Nov. 1, 1887.

win 66296-3.

ROBERT E. GLEASON, OF STILLVATER, MINNESOTA; MARY E. GLEASON ADMINISTBATRIX OF SAID ROBERT E. GLEASON, DECEASED; SAID MARY E. GLEASON, ADMINISTRATRIX, ASSIGNOR OE ONE-HALF TO JOHN F.

SEGOG, OF DULUTH, MINNESOTA.

CHAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 372,613, dated November 1, 1887.

Application filed June 3,1886. Serial No. 20 L000. lModel.)

T aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ROBERT E. GLEASON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Stillwater, in the State of Minnesota, have invented new and useful Improvements in Chains, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a strong. and durable chain for hauling logs in IO sawmills, for drivechains, and for use where great strength is required.

The improvement consists in the construction whereby open links of round iron are connected in pairs to a casting formed with four I5 outside buttons disposed in pairs at its oppo site sides, whereby the chain is rendered flexible, so that it can be used with pulleys. A solid button-connection is used with open links of round iron to give great strength, in which the links are made sufliciently wide in the middle of their length to be passed over the button-heads,and then closed, so as to confine them upon the buttons, making a chain at comparativel'y little cost. The links are made of separate round iron, and buttoned upon the outer sides of the casting by simply closing the widened side of thelink upon the buttonshanks, so that the buttonlieads cannot pass through the openings of the links.

In the drawings, Fignrel rcpresents,in perspective, a section of my improved chain composed of four open round ironlinks and a flat four-button casting. Fig. 2 shows the fourbutton casting and one of the bowed links as made; and Fig. 3shows the section,in side view, with one link confined upon the buttons and the other link with its opening widened for placing over the button.

The links a are oblong and formed like a car-coupling link of wrought or cast malleable iron,as may be required. In forming them,0ne side, I), Fig. 2, is swelled. out from the other side, so as to enlarge the opening in the middle of the length of the link to such an extent as to permit it to be easily placed over a button at such widened part.

A four-button piece, 0, is forged or cast, with the buttons at each end on opposite sides, leaving a space between them. The shanks d, of

these buttons, are cylindrical, and their heads 0 are preferably circular and of a diameter suffieient to confine the link when placed over the heads upon the shanks. XVhen so placed, the ends of the links will nearly touch each other; and, the sections so formed and joined in the chain, thelinks will bekept in line with each other and with the button-casting.

The iron links are formed separately,in any suitable n1anner,with one side,b,slightly bowed outward from a parallel relation to the other side, so as to make the opening of the link at its middle wider than at the ends of the link, to allow the latter to be placed over the'button-head, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The bowed side of the link is closed down so as to bring it in parallel relation to its straight side by a hammer and thus confine it upon the buttons of the separate solid connecting castings. In this way the chain parts are separately made and easily and quickly connected to form a double chain without pins, eyes, or other fastenings, so that the force is extended upon the bodyof each link throughout its length. The four-button piece is made of a thickness about equal to the width of the link-opening, so as to give metal and strength to the button shanks.

The chain can be made of any desired size to. suit the purpose for which it may be used, and its cheapness as a manufactured article is due to the fact that the links and the buttonpieces can be produced cheaply and quickly in great quantities and put together by unskilled labor. In case of accidental breaking of the buttons, or of the links, the parts can be easily removed and replacedby new pieces.

Referring to the four-button casting,its sides, from which the button-heads proj set, are square with its widest sides, and the inner sides of the button-heads being concave, they thereby hold the ends of the open links close against the vertical sides of said casting and thus serve to keep the links in parallel lines with the casting. The button-casting is about half the length of the open links, and when the latter are placed upon the button-shanks andlocked therewith, as stated, they cannot be removed exceptby bowing outward one side of the link sufficient to allow it to be passed over the heads of the buttons.

I am aware that drive-chains have been formed of two parallel lines of open links or slotted bars, and independent cross-journalforming bolts connecting said bars and having heads which engage within the slots of the links, and in which the said open links are each formed at the sides of their slots with an enlargement, so as to form a central opening at the middle of the length of said slot, open= ing therein and large enough to admit the head and the central part of the independent crossconnecting bolts, whereby they are inserted within said links to connect them; but in such a chain the independentjournal-forming bolts do not look the linksthereto, and the links are liable to become separated in handling the chain, because the turning of one link upon its bolt at right angles to the other link is liable to bring the central opening of its slot coincident with the bolt-head and permit them to separate. Moreover, in such construction of chain the first and last pairs of links or side bars require to be coupled by cross-journal or pivot bolts of specialeonstruction, in which provision is made in the bolt itself for looking it to the links. In my improvement a single four'button casting forms the journals or pivots for connecting the open links or side bars, the heads of saidjournalbearings being of less diameter than the slot in the link before the chain is finished, and of,

greater diameter than every part of the width of the slot in the link when the chain is completed for use, so that it is impossible for any of the links of the chain to become separated, and in which the first and last pairs of links can be coupled and locked alike withiallthe links of the chain. This construction, so far as I know and can find, is new, and differs essentially from chains in which the open links are connected by independent pivot or joint-forming bolts of any kind, and from all that class of chains composed of alternate single and double links having bearing-studs and projections forming knuckle-connections at the articulations of the links, which also serve to allow the links to be separated. In my improved chain the links, being of malleable iron, can be easily swaged into form from suitable lengths cut from a continuous bar and then fitted over and upon and locked to the buttons of the short casting by the use of a hammer; and this operation of forming achain is also new, so far as I know and can find, and gives the advantage of producing a very strong chain at comparatively little cost.

I claim As an improvement in drive-chains, the coupler comprising the casting 0, having the button-heads 6, each head joined to the casting by a round shank-bearing, d, of less diameter than the head, in combination with the oval links, formed. as described, and secured to the coupler, in the mannerspecified, to pivot on the shanks or bearings, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereofI have hereunto set my i hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ROBERT E. GLEASON. Vitnesses:

CHARLES P. GREGORY, VVILLIAM H. MANVVELL. 

